Standing Room Only - Winnick Hillel Center at Offers Seder to a Full House

- A capacity crowd of more than 300 students packed the Winnick Hillel Center for Seder services, marking the Passover holiday.

- Karen and Gary Winnick, through the Winnick Family Foundation, have donated $2.2 million to Hillel at Syracuse University, bringing their total contributions to Syracuse University to $4.5 million.

Los Angeles, CA -- April 20, 2009 -- Syracuse University's Winnick Hillel Center hosted one of the largest on-campus gatherings for a Seder service in the University's history earlier this month. On April 8, more than 300 students crowded in for the Wednesday sundown service, marking the opening of Jewish Passover. The gathering was significant enough to earn feature news coverage in the campus , The Daily Orange.

Wrote campus reporter Matt Levin: "Students packed the upstairs and downstairs dining rooms, so they turned the library into a third dining room … Hundreds of students prayed together. They prayed as one."

Said financier and philanthropist Gary Winnick, pleased at the exceptional turnout: "College years can be rewarding, but the absence of family and structure during long months on campus can also make a university environment a very lonely place. My wife Karen, who is herself a graduate of Syracuse University, and I are pleased to have funded the construction and operation of this unique center and delighted to see that it is already attracting students enthusiastic about their Jewish heritage. The purpose of the Hillel movement is to provide a space where young Jews can explore and celebrate their common values. It looks like this center on the Syracuse campus is quickly fulfilling that role."

Karen and Gary Winnick, through the Winnick Family Foundation, have made $2.2 million in contributions for Hillel at Syracuse University, bringing their total contributions to Syracuse University to $4.5 million.

About the Winnick Family Foundation The Foundation encourages project-specific programs but also selectively supports capital campaigns and unrestricted gifts to grantee organizations. There is a preference for projects in Los Angeles and - or those having an international component.

Foundation naming grants include:  Winnick Family Clinical Research Institute at Cedars Sinai Hospital  Winnick House and Arnold S. Winnick Student Center at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University  Winnick International Conference Center at the Simon Wiesenthal Center / Jerusalem  Winnick Children's Zoo in Los Angeles  Winnick Faculty Scholar at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University  Winnick Hall at the Skirball Cultural Center  Arnold & Blanche Winnick Popular Library and Karen Winnick Children's Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library  Winnick Hillel House at Syracuse University  Winnick Board Room at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City  Winnick Winners Mentoring Program for the Los Angeles Unified School District  Winnick Fellows at UCLA School of Medicine

Gary and Karen Winnick and the Foundation have endowed university and high school literacy and scholarship programs at , at Mrs. Winnick's alma mater Syracuse University, and at Mr. Winnick's alma mater Long Island University.

They have also funded the transformation of the on-campus Post mansion administrative center - renamed Winnick House - as well as the main cafeteria which is now named in honor of Mr. Winnick's late father.

In California, the Foundation has supported educational programs at the California Science Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, KOREH L.A., the Los Angeles Zoo, L.A.'s Best Afterschool Program, the Wonder of Reading, the Fulfillment Fund and Noah's Ark at the Skirball Center. Among the many other Foundation grantees are the Special Olympics, The Center for Jewish History, Children's Scholarship Fund, Partnership for Better Schools, Teach for America, The Gettysburg Foundation, The National Parks Foundation, Best Friends Animal Society, The Los Angeles Police Foundation, Shoah Foundation, and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University.

The Foundation also supports charities operating outside the United States, including the International Medical Corps, Flora and Fauna, World Wildlife Fund, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Israel Museum, the Israel Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Zoo, Heifer International and the Bloomfield Science Museum at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. For more information on the Foundation and its work, visit http://www.winnickfamilyfoundation.com on the Web.

Read more of campus reporter Matt Levin's article on the Syracuse University seder in The Daily Orange.